A Rose in the Shadow: Volume 1
by ZeroGrav514
Summary: What if there was another hero that was a part of the RWBY universe? Another hero that was there since the beginning? Watch as the members of RWBY go on an adventure filled with excitement, gore... And maybe a little romance. Rated T just to be on the safe side.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Shadow Kat

* * *

**Hello, and welcome to my RWBY fanfic! If you already know who I am, don't worry. I'll still work on my MLP fanfic. If you don't know who I am, I am a brony. Hate me yet? Good. Anyway, to those who read my MLP fanfic, I will still work on that. It's just that I've had this pent up inside me and I wanted to let it out. So, without further ado, here is A Rose in the Shadow. Oh, wait, disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY in anyway. Only thing I own is my OC, Shadow. (Yea, it's cliche, I know. Shut up!)**

* * *

**AN: This is the introduction to the first episode. It remains the same. If you want to skip it, keep scrolling until the italicized words end. **

_Legends. Stories scattered through time. Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily that we are remnants, byproducts, of a forgotten past. Man, born from Dust, was strong, wise, and resourceful. But he was born into an unforgiving world. An inevitable darkness, creatures of destruction, the creatures of Grimm, set their sights on Man and all of his creations. These forces clashed, and it seemed the darkness was intent on returning Man's brief existence to the void. However, even the smallest spark of hope is enough to ignite change. And in time, Man's passion, resourcefulness, and ingenuity led them to the tools that would help even the odds. This power was appropriately named Dust. Nature's wrath in hand, Man lit their way through the darkness, and in the shadows absence came strength, civilization, and most importantly, life. But even the most brilliant lights eventually flicker and die. And when they are gone, darkness would return. So you may prepare you "guardians", build your monuments to a so called "free world". But take heed. There will be no victory in strength._

_**But perhaps victory is in the simpler things that you've long forgotten. Things that require a smaller, more honest, soul.**_

* * *

My name is Shadow Kat. I am 15 years old. I have short, black hair, with a streak of blue on the right side of it. I have a black, hooded cloak which has a blue streak down the middle. I also have bronze eyes. Right now, I'm wearing a black shirt and blue jeans with black shoes.

I want to be a Hunter. It's been a dream of mine. So, in order to achieve that dream, I've been training with my katana. It's not a regular katana, mind you. It has a built in shotgun. At first, it is only a handle, a bar. But at the press of a button, it extends to the weapon I built. I call it Black Kat. Weird name, I know. Anyway, two more years in Signal Academy and I'll get to go to Beacon! Two years is still pretty long though.

Today, I was walking past a store I've walked past and walked into a hundred times. It was called "From Dust till Dawn". It was a store that sells, you guessed it, Dust. The owner had some pretty good magazines in the back too, so I decided to walk in and check it out.

"Hello Mr. Kat." I heard a voice say.

I turned my head to the owner. "Hey Mr. Qrow."

Mr. Qrow is a cool guy. He is also a teacher at Signal.

"What are you doing here this late?"

Did I forget to mention that it was ten o'clock?

"You know it's the weekend Mr. Qrow."

"It is?" He scratched the back of his head. "Huh, time does fly by when you're not paying attention to it."

Words of wisdom right there.

"Yeah. Anyway, I'll be in the back as always."

"Okay Shadow. My niece is also back there, so say hi to her."

"Got it."

I walked towards the back and saw his niece, Ruby Rose. Don't tell anyone else this, but I have a crush on her. We don't hang out that much. We talk to each other once in a while, but that's about it.

"Hey Ruby." I said.

She didn't answer.

"Uh... Ruby?"

Ignored. Great. Wait... Is that music? I listened. Yep, there it was. Coming from her. She was listening to music on her headphones. I tapped her shoulder. She turned around. When she saw me, she took off her headphones.

"Hey Shadow. What are you doing here?"

"Just skimming through the magazines." I saw that she had one in her hands. "What are you reading?"

She brought the magazine up to my face so I could read the title. "Weapons"? Really?

"Couldn't they think about a better name?"

"Yeah, it sounds boring, but it actually has a lot of cool information about different weapons and how to take care of them."

"Really? Cool." I skimmed through the shelf until I found the magazine. I opened it and started reading it. Once I get interested in something, it's like I'm in another world. And boy was I interested in this.

I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Huh? Sorry, got interested in this." I turned around to see a guy with red shades, a black fedora, a black suit and a red tie looking at me. I saw that he was holding a sword at his side. He gestured to Ruby.

"Hey, Ruby?" I tapped her shoulder.

She looked at me and I nodded towards the guy. She looked at him and took her headphones off.

"Yes?" She asked.

The guy held his sword up towards us. I reached into my pocket and felt Black Kat.

"Put your hands up!" He yelled.

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you robbing us?"

"Yes!"

I smirked as I kicked him in the gut and sent him flying. He crashed into some supplies. Sorry Mr. Qrow.

Another guy that looked a lot like the guy I kicked came over to us. He held up a pistol to Ruby.

"Freeze!"

She ran towards him as she readied her weapon. She crashed into him and they were both sent flying out of a window of the store. I readied my weapon and followed her.

"Ruby! You okay?"

She stood up with her scythe by her side. She started twirling it and stuck it in the ground.

"Just peachy."

I nodded my head as I turned around. More thugs came out of the store. All of them but one looked similar. Who I assumed was the leader wore a black bowler hat that had a red stripe around the base of it. He had a white coat and brown pants. He had black shoes on. He also had orange hair. He currently had a cigar in his mouth.

"Okaaay." He said. "Well? Go get them."

The thugs run towards us. One ran towards Ruby. She lifted herself off the ground and spun around her scythe, and kicked him in the face. One guy ran towards me and swung at me with his sword, but I simply blocked it and punched him in the face. He flew backwards and hit another guy. I could see more thugs running towards me. I swung my foot behind me and hit a guy in jaw, shot Black Kat and blasted another backwards, shot again so the recoil could spin me around, lifted my foot, and hit the rest of the thugs. Ruby was done with her group of thugs when I looked at her again.

"Well Red." I heard the leader say. "I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening. And as much as I'd love to stick around," He raised his cane at her, "I'm afraid this," The bottom part popped up, revealing the cane to be a gun of some sort, "Is where we part ways."

Knowing what was going to happen next, I ran in front of Ruby as he shot, blocking with my sword. I heard and felt the explosion happen once the rocket made impact with Black Kat. My ears were ringing once I looked up. The guy was gone. I looked around and saw him climbing up a ladder onto a roof of a building. I tapped Ruby and pointed at him. She turned to her uncle.

"Is it okay if I go after him?"

He nodded his head. Ruby starts to run to the building the guy climbed up to.

"I'll make sure she stays safe." I said before running after her.

Ruby pointed her scythe downwards and shot, blasting herself upwards. Me? I ran up the wall. Cool, right? Anyway, we met up at the top of the building.

"Hey!" I yelled.

The guy stops. "Persistent."

Suddenly, an airship flies up. A spotlight turns on, blinding me and Ruby. He jumps onto it, and brings up Red Dust.

"End of the line, brats!"

He threw the Dust at us. He brought his cane up and shot the rocket at the Dust.

"Ruby!" I tackle her to the ground, using my body to protect her from the explosion. I heard it blow up, but... I wasn't dead yet. I look up and saw her... A Huntress! She used a shield Glyph to protect us from the explosion. She put her wand down, and the shield disappeared.

"Woah..." I said, mesmerized by the sight.

"Uh... Shadow?" I heard Ruby say from beneath me. "Could you get off of me?"

I blushed and immediately got off of her. "Sorry!"

I looked back at the Huntress. She swiped her wand and a bunch of purple shards shot out of it, flying towards the airship. The guy runs towards the cockpit. The Huntress swipes her wand again and a storm cloud appears above the airship. She moves her wand downwards and ice shards start falling from it, hitting the airship. Now in the entrance of the airship is a woman. I can't see her face, which I think is weird because I could see the guy's face fine. She had a red dress on and high heels. Her arms glow red as she fires a fireball from her hand. The Huntress put up another shield Glyph. A red Glyph appeared beneath the Huntress. She looks down and jumps away from it before it explodes. She grabs the debris with her wand and they turn purple. They go into a spear-like formation and she shoots it at the airship.

The woman inside of it starts shooing at it, but it keeps reforming. Eventually, it does hit the airship, but it bounces off instead of piercing it. The spear breaks off into three different parts, traveling around the airship. The woman moves her arms outwards as there is an explosion that explodes outward of the airship. The spears break and fall to the ground. Ruby starts shooting at the woman, but she blocks every shot. I summoned a Shadow Bow with my Semblance and start shooting Shadow Arrows at her. The Huntress stares at me for a second before looking behind us. I sensed the danger too as I tackled Ruby on to the ground once again after I hear explosions behind us. I could feel the debris scratching my back.

"Ruby! You okay?" I asked as I got off of her.

"I'm fine. Thanks." She answers, and grins at me.

I grin back at her and nod. When I look back towards the airship, it's flying away.

Ruby looks at the woman beside her. "You're a Huntress... Can I get your autograph?" She squealed as I rolled my eyes.

Let's just say she didn't get her autograph.

* * *

We found ourselves in a gray room with a single light in it. Ruby and I were sitting down at a desk. The woman was pacing around the room, lecturing us.

"I hope you realize your actions tonight will not be taken lightly young lady and young man."

Ruby looked ashamed. Me? I was indifferent. I mean, we stopped a bunch of thugs from robbing a store! But we also destroyed some property, so it evened itself out.

"You put yourself and others in great danger."

"They started it!" Ruby countered.

Nice comeback.

"If it were up to me, you'd be set home with a pat on the back," Ruby smiled, "And a slap on the wrist."

She smacked a baton onto the desk, making Ruby and I flinch.

"But," The woman continued, "There is someone here who would like to meet you."

The door opened and out came Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon! He had a cup filled with a drink, probably coffee, and a plate of cookies. Why would he want to meet us?

"Ruby Rose and Shadow Kat." He said and leaned up to our faces. He looked at Ruby. "You... have silver eyes..." Then he looked at me. "And you have bronze eyes..." He leaned back. "Interesting." I heard him whisper under his breath.

What did eye color have to do with anything?

The woman was behind Ozpin, holding up a scroll, which showed a video of us fighting.

"Now where did you two learn to do this?"

"At Signal Academy, sir." I said.

He turned to Ruby. "They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?"

"Well, one teacher in particular."

"I see."

He placed the plate of cookies down. Ruby and I looked at each other, eyebrows raised. I hesitantly took a cookie and bit into it. Mmm... Chocolate chip. Ruby took one and scarfed it down in one bite. She then proceeded to fill her face with them. Let me tell you, that girl can eat.

"It's just that I've only seen one other scythe wielder of that skill before. A dusty old crow."

Hint, hint.

Ruby said something with her mouth full of cookies. I raised an eyebrow at her. She blushed a bit and swallowed.

"Heh. Sorry. That's my uncle Qrow. He's a teacher at Signal. I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing. Now I'm all like," She started making "Aaaah" sounds while karate chopping the air. I chuckled a bit.

"So I've noticed."

He turned his head towards me.

"And you, Mr. Kat, who taught you to use a katana like that? I haven't seen anything like it."

"Oh, it's a family thing. I got it from my father, who got it from his father, and so on and so forth."

"Interesting. And what are two children, such as yourself, doing at a school designed to train warriors?"

"Well, I want to be a Huntress." Ruby answered.

"And I want to be a Hunter." I followed up.

"You want to slay monsters." Ozpin said.

"Yea. We," She pointed to herself and me, "only have two years of training left at Signal, then I'm going to apply to Beacon. I don't know about Shadow."

I nodded my head. "Yea, I'm going to apply to Beacon also."

Ruby decided to continue. "I mean, the police are alright, but Hunters and Huntresses are so much more romantic and exciting and cool and," She let out an adorable fan girl squeal, "You know?"

The woman looked concerned as Ozpin had a blank expression on his face. He has a good poker face, I can tell.

"Do you know who I am?" He asked.

"You're professor Ozpin." Ruby said.

"You're the headmaster at Beacon." I continued.

He nodded. "Hello."

"Hi." I said.

"Nice to meet you." said Ruby.

"You want to come to my school?"

"Of course sir." I answered.

"More than anything." Ruby followed.

Ozpin looked at the woman, who rolled her eyes and made a "Hmph!" sound.

"Well, okay." He said.

* * *

"Oh I can't believe my baby sister is going to Beacon with me. This is the best day ever!"

That was the voice of Yang, Ruby's bigger sister, who was currently squeezing her little sister to death. She caught sight of me.

"And who's this? You're boyfriend?"

I blushed. I wished Yang, I wished.

"Yaaaaaaang!" Ruby whined. "He's the guy who helped me with the thugs."

"Oh. So this is Shadow?"

I nodded and put out my hand. She took it and shook it. Heh.

"Nice to meet you." I said.

"You too."

There was a voice over an intercom as a hologram was playing the news.

"The robbery was led by a nefarious criminal named Roman Torchwick."

A picture of the leader of those thugs popped up. So that was his name.

"He continues to evade authorities. If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Vale police department. Back to you Lisa."

The hologram changed to a video of a woman talking.

"Thank you Cyril. In other news," A photo of Faunas showed up in the top left corner, "In other news, this Saturday's Faunas civil rights protest has turned dark when the members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony. The once peaceful organization has now disrupted-"

The video was interrupted by the Huntress I met earlier showing up on it.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon." She said.

"Who's that?" Yang asked.

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch."

"Oh."

"You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task. And now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world." With that, Glynda disappeared.

"Oh wow!" I heard Ruby gasp.

She walked up to a window. I followed her and looked out. Man, what a view.

"Look," She said, "You can see Signal from here."

I just stood there, grinning like an idiot. Why? I was looking at an awesome view right next to the girl I had a crush on.

"I guess home isn't that far after all." I heard Ruby say.

I saw Yang walk next to Ruby and put her arm around her. "Beacon is our home now."

To my right, I heard something. I looked over and saw a blonde guy looking like he was going to throw up. Which I was sure he was going to. So, using my Semblance, I used shadows to grab a nearby trash can and put it right next to him. He looked at it and proceeded to lose his lunch.

"The view isn't for everyone, I guess." I chuckled

"Cute AND funny." Yang said, making me blush. "I might think about stealing him from you Ruby."

"YAAAAAANG!"

This was going to be an interesting year.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Welcome to Beacon

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**First of all, sorry that this took a while. Life and all that.  
****Second of all, there is some stuff I forgot to mention in the last chapter, like the kind of stuff Shadow packed and what he packed it into, and that he was in the Dust-Flyer. Stuff he packed: clothes, pajamas, bathroom stuff, you know, the usual. All of that in a black backpack with a blue tint to it. Also, a guitar that can change between electric and acoustic in a guitar case with mini speakers. Okay, now on with the story!**

* * *

After about 15 minutes, the Dust-Flyer landed. It opened up and I saw the blonde guy run out and go to a nearby trash can and proceeded to throw up some more. Poor guy. I put on my backpack and picked up my guitar, which was in it's case.

"Is... That your weapon?" Yang asked

"Nope. It's my guitar." I answered

"You play guitar? Add that to the list of reasons why I like you."

"And what are the other reasons?"

"Cute and funny."

"Thanks."

After that little conversation, Ruby, Yang, and I walked out of the Dust-Flyer.

"Woah..." We all said.

Beacon looked like a castle. It was awesome.

"The view from Vale's got nothing on this." Yang stated, crossing her arms.

"Ooh! Ooh! Sis!" Ruby said, fangirling over the weapons some other kids had. "That kid has a collapsible staff! And she's got a fire sword!"

It was cute.

"Easy there, little sister." Yang said, grabbing Ruby's hood and dragging her back to us before she ran off. "They're just weapons."

"Just weapons?" Ruby replied. "They're an extension of ourselves! They're a part of us! They're so cool!"

"Well, why can't you swoon over your own weapon? Aren't you happy with it?"

Ruby unsheathed her weapon and it shifted into a scythe. She proceeded to hug it. Again, it was cute.

"Of course I'm happy with Crescent Rose. I just really like seeing new ones. It's like meeting new people, but better."

"Ruby, come on." Yang pulled Ruby's good over her head. "Why don't you go try and make some new friends of your own?"

"Why would I need new friends when I have you and Shadow?"

"Well..." Yang said before a group of people surrounded her. "Actually my friends are here now." They zoomed past us so fast, they made me and Ruby spin and get dizzy. "Gotta go catch up. Bye!"

"Wait! Where are you going?" I heard Ruby say as I stopped spinning, wobbling on my feet. "Are we supposed to go our dorms? Where are our dorms? Do we have dorms? I don't know what I'm doing."

I saw Ruby about to fall down, so I reached to grab her, but still being dizzy, I fell down with her. We hit the ground and I saw suitcases fly into the air.

_"Where did they come from?" _I thought.

"What are you two doing?" I heard a female voice say.

I sat up, pushing suitcases off of me. "Eh heh... Sorry."

I turned towards the girl that talked to me.

_"She sure likes white..."_

"Sorry? Do you have any idea of the damage you could've caused?"

"Uh..." Ruby picked up a suitcase.

"Gimme that!" The girl snatched the suitcase out of her hand and opened it. "This is Dust mined and purified from the Schnee Quarry.

"Uhh."

"What are you, brain dead?" She took out a vial of red Dust.

I felt my eye twitch.

"Dust!" She started waving the Dust around. The cork wasn't on it too securely and some Dust flew out. "Fire, Water, Lightning, energy!"

Ruby looked like she was going to sneeze.

_"Wait a second... Red Dust... Explosive... She's going to sneeze..."_

"Get down!" I yelled out, pulling the girl down with me. She lost her grip on the vial and it rolled away somewhere.

"Achoo!" Ruby sneezed out. There was a an explosion that made the ground shake.

The girl got up, dusting herself up.

_"Geez, no thank you?"_

"Unbelievable! This is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about!"

"I'm really, really sorry!" Ruby said.

"Ugh! You complete dolt! If it weren't for him," She pointed at me, "I would've been blown off the cliff!"

_"Kinda wish you did, now that I think about. Curse me for being the nice guy."_

"What are you two even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?"

"Well... I..." Ruby stuttered.

"This isn't your ordinary combat school. It's not just sparring and practice you know. We're here to fight monsters so, watch where you're going!"

I lost my cool. "Now wait just a minute! She said she was sorry!"

"And why are you defending her?"

"Because it was an accident. Not everyone can be perfect, Princess!"

"It's Heiress, actually." I heard a new female voice say.

"Huh?" I said, looking at the black haired girl that said it.

"Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."

"Finally, some recognition." The girl now known as Weiss said, turning to glare at me and Ruby.

"The same company infamous for its controversial labor force and questionable business partners."

I chuckled a bit at that while Ruby giggled.

"How dare-! The nerve of-! Ugh!" And with that, the Snow Princess stormed off.

"I promise I'll make this up to you!" Ruby yelled out and then sighed. "Guess I'm not the only one having a rough first day."

"Hey, thanks for..." I started, turning towards the girl that helped me, only to see her walking away. "...The help..." I sighed, and fell down to the ground, staring up at the sky. Ruby followed suit.

"Welcome to Beacon." I heard Ruby say.

I heard footsteps and saw a hand in front of my face.

"Hey," I looked up to see the blonde guy from the Dust-Flyer. "I'm Jaune."

He had his other hand in front of Ruby.

"Shadow." I stated, taking his hand and then he pulled me up.

"Ruby." She also took his hand and was also pulled up.

I heard her snort. "Aren't you the guy that threw up on the ship?"

* * *

"All I'm saying is that motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on." Jaune said.

Him, Ruby, and I were walking on a path.

"Hey," I started "Vomit-boy was the first thing that came to my head. I'm sorry."

"Oh yeah? What if I called you..." Jaune trailed off.

"At least you can call Ruby 'Crater-face'."

"That was an accident and you know it!" Ruby yelled.

I only chuckled in response.

"Anyway, the name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it!"

"Do they?" I asked, an eyebrow raised.

"They will. Well, I hope they will. I mean, my mom always says, uh... Nevermind."

"Don't worry. You seem like a cool guy. In time, ladies all over will want to see you."

"You really think so?"

"Yep."

There was a moment of silence.

"So..." Ruby started. "I got this thing."

She pulled out Crescent Rose and shifted it into Scythe form, sticking it in the ground.

"Woah!" Jaune yelled out. "Is that a scythe?"

"It's also a customizable, high impact sniper rifle."

"A wha-?"

"It's also a gun." Ruby said, bolting it.

"Oh. That's cool! What do you have Shadow?"

I pulled Black Kat out of my pocket.

"A bar?"

"Just give me a sec."

I shifted it into it's Katana form.

"A katana?! That's awesome!"

"It's also a shotgun." I said, cocking it. I shifted Black Kat back into it's bar form and put it in my pocket. "What do you have?"

"Oh! Uh. I got this sword." Jaune pulled it out of the sheath.

"Ooooh." Ruby said.

"Yeah. I got a shield too." He pulled off the sheath and it shifted into a shield.

"So what do they do?" Ruby asked, touching the shield.

The shield then starts jumping around the place, shifting back and forth between sheath and shield. Jaune was fumbling around, trying to catch it, until it hits the ground with a clang, in it's shield form. Jaune picks it up and puts it back on his arm.

"Well... The shield gets smaller." It turned back into it's sheath form. "So, when I get tired of carrying it, I can just put it away."

"Won't it just weight the same?" I asked.

"Yeah..." Jaune said, looking down.

"Well," Ruby started. "I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons. I guess I did go a little overboard designing it."

"Wait. You made that?" Jaune asked.

"All students at Signal make their own weapons." I answered. "Didn't you make yours?"

"It's a hand-me-down." Jaune said. "My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war."

"Sounds more like a family heirloom to me!" Ruby exclaimed. "Well, I like it."

"Yeah, me too." I agreed. "Not a lot of people have an appreciation for the classics."

"Yeah. The classics." Jaune said, putting his sword in the sheath.

"Why'd you help us back there. In the courtyard?" Ruby inquired.

"Eh... Why not." Jaune answered. "My mom always says 'Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet'."

"That's very... Peculiar..." I responded.

"So... Where are we going?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know. I was following Jaune."

"And I was following you." Jaune said. "You think there might be a directory? Maybe a food court? Some sort of recognizable landmark?"

Ruby and I laughed.

"Is that a no?"

"That's a no."

* * *

After a couple of minutes of walking around aimlessly, we finally found our destination, the auditorium.

"You guys go on ahead. I want to have another minute of quiet before going in there." I said.

"Alright. See ya later." Jaune said before walking in.

"What he said." Ruby walked into step besides Jaune.

When I saw them walk inside, I looked up at the sky, letting it sink in.

_"I'm in Beacon... Do I really deserve this?"_ I thought to myself.

_"Of course you do." _Another part of my brain said. _"You've basically been training you're whole life up to this moment. THEY would be proud."_

_"Yeah... Guess you're right... But still, what I let happen to THEM..." _

I shook my head to rid those dark thoughts and walked inside.

"Are you being sarcastic?" I heard Yang say.

Looking around, I saw her and Ruby talking to each other. I walked over to them.

"Ugh. I wish." I heard Ruby say before I walked up next to Yang.

She nodded her head in a greeting and I did the same.

Ruby continued talking. "I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage. And then she yelled at me! And then I sneezed. And then I exploded! And then she yelled again! And I felt really, really bad! And I just wanted her to stop yelling at me!"

"You!" I heard a familiar voice say.

Ruby yelped and jumped into my arms.

"Oh god, it's happening again!" She yelled out.

"Ahem, Ruby." I said, blushing slightly. "As much as I like holding you this way, I don't think now is the right time."

Ruby blushed deeply and jumped off of me. "Sorry."

"You're lucky no one got hurt!" Weiss continued.

"Oh my god, you really exploded." Yang said.

"It was an accident!" Ruby continued. "It was an accident!"

Weiss pulled out a pamphlet titled "Dust for dummies and other Inadequate Individuals."

"What's this?" Ruby asked.

Weiss then proceeded to rant on about policies about the company. I couldn't keep up with it. It seemed like she was talking faster the more she went on.

"Uhh..." Ruby said, confused.

"You really want to start making things up with me?"

"Absolutely!"

"Read this and don't ever speak to me again."

"Look," Yang started. "It sounds like you two just got off the wrong foot. Why don't you just start over and try to be friends, okay?"

"Yeah! Great idea sis." Ruby put up her hand. "Hello, Weiss. I'm Ruby. Wanna hang out?"

_"This will probably end badly."_

"We can go shopping for school supplies."

"Yeah, and we can paint our nails, and try on clothes,and talk about cute boys, like tall, blonde, and scraggly over there!" Weiss said sarcastically as she pointed at Jaune, who's attention was pointed towards her.

_"What? I'm not cute? Well, Yang called me cute. One point for me."_

"Wow, really?" Ruby asked.

I rolled my eyes as I put my hand on her shoulder, getting her attention. "I think she was being sarcastic, Ruby."

"Ahem," I heard up on the stage. On it was Professor Ozpin. "I'll keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction."

For some reason, I couldn't help but feel insulted.

Ozpin continued. "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Ozpin walked away from the microphone as Ms. Goodwitch walked up to it. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed." With that, she also walked off.

"Is it just me," I said. "Or did he seem a bit... off?"

Yang nodded in agreement. "Yea, like he wasn't there."

"I'm a natural blonde, you know." I heard Jaune say, butting into the conversation.

Weiss put a hand up to her forehead. "Idiot..." I heard her say underneath her breath.

"Alright, tiger, let's go." I said before walking off to the ballroom.

* * *

Night came along. I was in a blue tank top wearing black pants. I was sitting in a chair, tuning my guitar. Some kids were already sleeping, so I tried to keep the noise level to a minimum. Ruby and Yang were in front of me, talking.

"It's like a big slumber party!" Yang exclaimed, falling onto her sleeping bag.

Ruby was writing a letter of some sort. "I don't think dad would approve of all the boys though."

"I know I do." Yang responded.

Across the way, there were shirtless guys wrestling and flexing.

_"Show offs..."_

Jaune then walked in front of them, wearing footie pajamas, head hung low. Curiosity got the best of me, and I walked up to him.

"Hey, Jaune?" I said, getting his attention. "What's with the get up?"

Jaune sighed and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. He gave it to me. It read:

_Hey Jauney-boy!  
__I know how much you LOVE footie pajamas,  
__So I took out those boring pajamas you had and replaced them with this!  
__Have fun!  
__Love, your father_

"Uh... Wow..." Was all I could say.

"Yeah, I know."

"Aww, that's so cuuuuute!" I heard Yang yell.

"I should see what's going on..."

"Eheh, yeah. I'll see you later?"

"Count on it."

I walked over to the girls to see Ruby get a pillow and throw it at Yang's face. I couldn't help but chuckle a bit. I managed to sit down without them noticing me.

"I didn't get to take my friends with me to school. It's weird not knowing anyone here." Ruby said a bit angrily.

"Well, you have Shadow." Yang said back.

"I don't think he counts. He was my friend before Beacon."

"Well, what about Jaune? He's... nice. See? Plus one friend! That's a 100% increase"

"I'm pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend. Back to zero."

"A negative friend?" I asked, making the girls jump a bit. "Heh, sorry. Anyway, Ruby, I don't think there are such things as negative friends. If anything, Weiss counts as an enemy."

My face was met with a pillow a split second after I say that.

"Oof!" I said, almost falling out of the chair.

She has a good throwing arm, I'll give her that.

"Look, Ruby, it's only been one day." Yang started. "You've got friends all around you. You just haven't met them yet."

There was a sound of a match being lit. I looked towards it and saw the black haired girl from before.

"Hey, it's her." I said.

"You know her?" Yang asked.

"Not really. She helped me earlier with Snow Princess."

"She walked away before we had a chance to say anything." Ruby continued.

"Welp, now's your chance!" Yang said, grabbing my wrist, along with Ruby's, and dragged us over to her.

"You know, I can walk myself." I said.

"Not taking any chances." She said rather bluntly.

_"Well okay then..."_

Ruby was trying her best to get out of Yang's grip, making sounds of struggle. Those sounds made the girl look up from her book.

"Hello~" Yang said in a singsong voice, waving.

"I believe you three know each other?" Yang gestured to me and Ruby, who had her back turned and arms crossed.

I waved and smiled sheepishly at the girl.

"Name's Shadow." I said.

She nodded her head and turned her attention to Ruby.

"Aren't you the girl that exploded?" She asked.

Ruby turned to face the girl. "Uh, yeah! My names Ruby."

She put out her hand for the girl to shake. Ruby brought it back behind her head when she found it that the girl wasn't going to shake it.

"But, you can call me Crater... Eh... Actually, you can just call me Ruby."

"Okay."

"What are you doing?" Yang whispered to Ruby.

"I don't know, help me." Ruby whispered back.

They looked back at the girl and smiled.

_"Well, this isn't awkward at all."_

"So," Yang started, "What's your name?"

"Blake."

"Well Blake, I'm Yang! Ruby's older sister. I like your bow."

"Thanks."

"It goes great with your... Pajamas!"

I mentally cringed.

"Rrright." Blake said, still reading the book.

"Nice night, don't you think?"

"Yes. It's lovely. Almost as lovely as this book."

Ruby, Yang, and I didn't walk away.

"That I will continue to read."

Still there.

"As soon as you leave."

"Yeah, this girl's a lost cause."

"What's it about?" I asked.

"Huh?" Blake looked up from her book.

"Your book. Does it have a name?"

Truth be told, I did like reading a good book once in a while and was curious about why she was ignoring us because of it. Although, she was probably ignoring us because we were getting annoying.

"Well, it's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control of his body."

"Oh yeah... that's real lovely." Yang responded.

"I love books." Ruby said, taking a step towards Blake. "Yang used to read to me every night before bed. Stories of heroes and monsters. They're one of the reasons I want to be a Huntress."

"Why is that?" Blake asked. "Hoping you'll live happily ever after?"

"I'm hoping we all will. As a girl, I wanted to be just like the heroes in the books. Someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves."

"That's very ambitious for a child. Unfortunately, the world isn't the same as a fairy tale.

_"I learned that the hard way."_

"Well, that's why we're here. To make it better."

I couldn't help but smile at Ruby's response.

"Oh, I'm so proud of my baby sister!" Yang said, hugging said sister.

"Cut it out!" Ruby punched Yang and a fight started.

"How about you?" Blake asked me, making me turn away from the fight.

"Hm?"

"Why do you want to become a Hunter."

"To make sure I don't make the same mistake I did a long time ago." I said rather darkly.

"And that is?"

"Running." I turned my back to her and walked over the break the fight.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a look of sympathy in her eyes, until she looked back down at the book.

As I was walking towards the two girls, I heard a familiar voice.

"What in the world is going on over here!?" Weiss said.

_"Great, more trouble..."_

"Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep!?"

Weiss and Yang looked at each other.

"Oh not you again!" They both said at the same time.

"Shh!" Ruby started, "She's right. People are trying to sleep."

"Oh, now you're on my side."

"I was always on your side!"

"Yeah, what's your problem with my sister? She's only trying to be nice!"

"She's a hazard to my health!"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Blake reach towards the candle and blow it out, plunging the room into darkness.

Getting the message, the girls stopped arguing.

Before going off to my sleeping bag, I let my eyes adjust to the darkness, which was fairly fast. I walked towards my bag, slipped inside, and let sleep overcome me.


End file.
